MotoGP™. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) wins as contenders collide in high drama Jerez race.

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Reigning Champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) took a stunning second win of the season – and his second win at Jerez – in the Gran Premio Red Bull de España, fighting to the front and just able to pull away into clear air, away from some huge drama that then hit the race behind. In a pivotal day in the Championship, an unbelievable racing incident saw Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team), teammate Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) all crash out in one go at Turn 6 – with Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Andrea Iannone (Team Suzuki Ecstar) then coming through to complete the podium.

Lorenzo got the holeshot after an unbelievable launch from the second row, taking the lead ahead of Pedrosa in second and Zarco in third as polesitter Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) lost out off the line. Marquez remained where he’d qualified in fifth, with Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) in sixth.

Lorenzo pushed early from the front to set the pace, with Pedrosa holding station in second as Marquez, Crutchlow and Zarco squabbled for third. A moment for Zarco soon after then saw the Frenchman out wide and dropping back.

Then Crutchlow crashed out, before another name went missing from the front group as Rins followed suit not so long after. Meanwhile Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) had made his way through to the front group – leaving a Repsol Honda vs Ducati Team duel of duos fighting it out.

With 16 laps to go, however, Marquez made his move – slicing past Lorenzo to take over in the lead as ‘DesmoDovi’ and Pedrosa looked for a way past the number 99. After some chopping and changing as Marquez pulled away, it was then time for the overwhelming headline of the race: the three-rider crash that saw Lorenzo, Dovizioso and Pedrosa all collide and tumble into the gravel.

Dovizioso had attacked Lorenzo into Turn 6 but headed too deep, with the number 99 then cutting back towards the apex – but Pedrosa was already there. The two collided with each other and then Dovizioso; the gravel trap waiting for the three men and the shockwaves of the moment ricocheting around the circuit as the dust settled. Costly in the Championship, but the three all walked away unharmed despite the incident.

That left Zarco with the unbelievable sight of a Repsol Honda and both Ducatis in the gravel as he came past, inheriting second and then facing seven laps to keep calm and take yet another impressive podium. The battle to complete that after the drama up ahead was hotting up, meanwhile, as Danilo Petrucci (Alma Pramac Racing) and Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) were closing in on the Suzuki of Andrea Iannone in third.

As the last lap dawned, Iannone was just able to make a gap and stay clear of the chasing Italians, despite Rossi having pulled back an awesome amount of distance on the penultimate lap to get himself in contention. So the ‘Maniac’ crossed the line in third for the third Suzuki podium in a row, Petrucci took fourth and Rossi a top five finish in the race in which he completed a lap of the world – now having raced the equivalent distance of the circumference of the Earth upon finishing Lap 15.

Jack Miller (Alma Pramac Racing) just dropped off that battle to cross the line in sixth, with Maverick Viñales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) making some progress from outside the top ten in the initial stages to take P7. Eighth was the best result of 2018 so far for Alvaro Bautista (Angel Nieto Team) after he fought with Viñales for much of the race, with top rookie Franco Morbidelli (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) taking ninth and his first top ten result in the premier class.

Mika Kallio (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), wildcarding on a prototype of the 2019 RC16, completed the top ten in another stunning ride, and teammate Pol Espargaro took P11 as he won a battle against Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) by mere hundredths at the line. Bradley Smith (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) was incredibly close, too, taking P13 to make it three Austrian machines in the points. Those points were completed by Tito Rabat (Reale Avintia Racing) and Scott Redding (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini).

The dust has settled at Jerez, but not yet in the title fight. There’s a new man at the top after the Spanish GP, and it’s race winner Marc Marquez – with the victory also marking Michelin’s 400th win. The chasing pack have some ground to make up on the number 93 at Le Mans.

GRAN PREMIO RED BULL DE ESPAÑA

MotoGP Race Classification 2018.

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time/Gap
1	25	93	Marc MARQUEZ	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	159.2	41’39.678
2	20	5	Johann ZARCO	FRA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	158.9	+5.241
3	16	29	Andrea IANNONE	ITA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	158.7	+8.214
4	13	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	Alma Pramac Racing	Ducati	158.7	+8.617
5	11	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	158.6	+8.743
6	10	43	Jack MILLER	AUS	Alma Pramac Racing	Ducati	158.6	+9.768
7	9	25	Maverick VIÑALES	SPA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	158.3	+13.543
8	8	19	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	Angel Nieto Team	Ducati	158.3	+14.076
9	7	21	Franco MORBIDELLI	ITA	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	158.1	+16.822
10	6	36	Mika KALLIO	FIN	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	158.0	+19.405
11	5	44	Pol ESPARGARO	SPA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	157.9	+21.149
12	4	30	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	JPN	LCR Honda IDEMITSU	Honda	157.9	+21.174
13	3	38	Bradley SMITH	GBR	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	157.8	+21.765
14	2	53	Tito RABAT	SPA	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	157.8	+22.103
15	1	45	Scott REDDING	GBR	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	156.9	+36.755
16		55	Hafizh SYAHRIN	MAL	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	156.6	+41.861
17		10	Xavier SIMEON	BEL	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	156.1	+49.241
18		17	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	Angel Nieto Team	Ducati	150.3	1 Lap
Not Classified
		99	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Ducati Team	Ducati	159.3	8 Laps
		4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	159.3	8 Laps
		26	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	159.3	8 Laps
		35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	LCR Honda CASTROL	Honda	155.4	9 Laps
		12	Thomas LUTHI	SWI	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	157.0	14 Laps
		42	Alex RINS	SPA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	157.9	20 Laps
Not Finished 1st Lap
		41	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia		0 Lap

MotoGP World Standing 2018.

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Marc MARQUEZ	Honda	SPA	70
2	Johann ZARCO	Yamaha	FRA	58
3	Maverick VIÑALES	Yamaha	SPA	50
4	Andrea IANNONE	Suzuki	ITA	47
5	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	Ducati	ITA	46
6	Valentino ROSSI	Yamaha	ITA	40
7	Cal CRUTCHLOW	Honda	GBR	38
8	Jack MILLER	Ducati	AUS	36
9	Danilo PETRUCCI	Ducati	ITA	34
10	Tito RABAT	Ducati	SPA	24
11	Dani PEDROSA	Honda	SPA	18
12	Alex RINS	Suzuki	SPA	16
13	Franco MORBIDELLI	Honda	ITA	13
14	Pol ESPARGARO	KTM	SPA	13
15	Alvaro BAUTISTA	Ducati	SPA	12
16	Hafizh SYAHRIN	Yamaha	MAL	9
17	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	Honda	JPN	9
18	Aleix ESPARGARO	Aprilia	SPA	6
19	Mika KALLIO	KTM	FIN	6
20	Jorge LORENZO	Ducati	SPA	6
21	Scott REDDING	Aprilia	GBR	5
22	Bradley SMITH	KTM	GBR	3
23	Karel ABRAHAM	Ducati	CZE	1
24	Thomas LUTHI	Honda	SWI
25	Xavier SIMEON	Ducati	BEL

Credits : Photos and content courtesy of motoGP.com